Residential Golf Course Architects, Part I

Jack Nicklaus: From King Player to King Maker

Putting the Jack Nicklaus signature on a community's golf course
immediately bestows blue chip status on the surrounding real estate.
 

Once the king of the golf course, the Golden Bear is now the
king of golf course design and sits atop the leader board in
regard to the value his signature imparts to his creations and
the surrounding real estate.

Colin Hegarty, president of Golf Research Group, studies
how a course architect’s name and reputation affects property
values in golf communities. Hegarty recently equated the
homes in communities built around Nicklaus courses with
“blue chip stocks” whose “value grows dependably.”

In the past five years, Nicklaus has designed 75 residential
golf courses. Golf Research Group puts their average net
value—course and real estate combined—at a cool $246
million per community. Run the same calculation for other
leading U.S. course designers and none of them matches up
with Jack.

Nicklaus got his start in golf course design in 1968 as co-author
(with Pete Dye) of the famed Harbour Town Golf Links on
Hilton Head Island—perfect symmetry considering it’s the
same place where golf-course real estate was first invented.

Nicklaus has since designed some 250 additional courses,
of which 35 have been listed on national and international
Top-100 rankings. His achievement as a designer is such
that the Nicklaus name will be forever revered in golf
circles, even if he had never picked up a club.

A fine example of the Nicklaus approach to residential
course design is his new layout at Bay Creek Golf & Marina Resort
in Cape Charles, VA. Measuring 7,417 yards with Tifsport Bermuda
fairways and smooth A-4 bentgrass greens, this Nicklaus course is
characterized by large waste areas and more than 100 boldly shaped bunkers.

     SOUTH CAROLINA: The Reserve at Lake Keowee, Lake Keowee

Of all golf communities with Nicklaus-designed courses,
Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, AZ, has the deepest
Bear tracks. It is home to no fewer than six 18-hole
layouts bearing the Nicklaus signature with their
openings stretched over a 15-year period. Some call
it a Nicklaus Design Museum, showing the evolution
of his style and beliefs .

       GEORGIA: Reynolds Plantation, Greensboro, Lake Oconee

Despite his lack of formal training in course design,
Nicklaus had several advantages when he started. He
knew the game well and he was given bigger construction
budgets than the average architect. His courses have a
fine, finished look to them—no corners are cut and it
shows. In fact, the quality-control standards Nicklaus
applied to his own early courses quickly became adopted
industry-wide.

         SOUTH CAROLINA: Woodside Plantation, Aiken

Today, Nicklaus retains a fondness for the split fairway, using
that feature to add character and a sense of fun to the tee shot
on par-5s. As more and more architects have squared off their
tee boxes in a nod to the formal-landscape look of the early
20th century, Nicklaus has bucked the trend, preferring to keep
his teeing grounds "free-form." 

To see a complete list of Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses on
GolfCourseHome.net, click here.

Other Articles in the Golf Architect Series

II. Tom Fazio: Elevating Course Design--and Home Values

III. Arnold Palmer: His Brilliant Second Career

IV. Arthur Hills: Value-Adding Visionary

V. Robert Trent Jones II: Continuing the Legacy

VI. Bob Cupp & Tom Jackson: Veterans with Prime Portfolios